Gambhir said: "Sadly, in India, we only hail a hundred or a five-wicket haul."

Yahoo Cricket – Sat 19 May, 2012 2:59 PM IST

Recommend

0

Tweet

0

By Lokendra Pratap Sahi

Pune (The Telegraph): Gautam Gambhir, India’s senior pro and captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders, spoke to The Telegraph for at least half-an-hour at the Marriott on Friday afternoon. Often, he was passionate while making a point.

The following are excerpts

Q You keep saying that a captain is only as good as his team, but you’ve got to take some credit, at least, for the way you’ve been leading the Knights...

A (Shrugs shoulders) To be honest, one or two individuals don’t need to get credit. But, unfortunately, that’s the way it is in India... KKR isn’t about giving credit to one or two, but to everybody, including those who don’t walk out on the park, but sit in the dressing room. This is what makes KKR the franchise it is. Sure, individuals contribute, but it’s the team which wins.

But it’s your captaincy which stood out at the Wankhede the other night. Don’t you feel you made a big contribution?

A good team effort has taken us forward and the boys have shown a lot of character in some of the really close matches, Bayliss said.

Yahoo Cricket – Fri 18 May, 2012 4:48 PM IST

Recommend

0

Tweet

0

By Lokendra Pratap Sahi

Pune (The Telegraph): Trevor Bayliss, the rather unassuming coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, spoke to The Telegraph at the Marriott on Thursday evening, an hour after the Knights arrived here by coach from Mumbai.

The following are excerpts

Well, the Knights are through to the playoffs, so objective No.1 has been realised...

A good team effort has taken us forward and the boys have shown a lot of character in some of the really close matches. The T20 game is pretty even, so you’ve got to keep giving yourself a chance of winning. We’ve lost a few, but still showed character... Such an attitude helps... At this stage, though, we aren’t looking beyond Saturday’s match against the Pune Warriors India... If you get too far ahead of yourself, you could get a nasty surprise.

Given that two Australians (John Buchanan and Dav Whatmore) had already coached the Knights in the first four seasons, did you think hard when the job was offered to you?

As a person, MS Dhoni is unbelievably considerate towards the people around him, says Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming.

Calcutta, (The Telegraph): Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who is coach of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), spoke to The Telegraph at the ITC Sonar on Monday afternoon.

The following are excerpts:

You've watched Mahendra Singh Dhoni at close quarters for five seasons now. What were your first impressions of him as captain?

That MS has a relaxed style of captaincy and that his decision-making is very instinctive. He reads the game well and makes the decisions which he feels are right... Most of the times, his decisions are right, for MS has a very good cricket brain. He gives the players confidence, allowing them to explore what they can do. MS backs what they do... Another point I'd like to make is that MS doesn't get enough credit for being the player he is. He has an amazing ability to win games and, within the team, that gives him opportunities to have an emotional attachment with the players.